ART. 1877. If no objection be made to the account by the minor or by the public prosecutor, it shall be approved without prejudice to the right which the laws grant the minor to claim against any injury caused thereby.

ART. 1878. Tutors or curators, whether ad bona or ad litem, can not be removed by an act of voluntary jurisdiction, even though it be at the request of the minors.

For the purpose of ordering their removal after the appointment is made, the matter must be heard and decided in an action.

TITLE IV.-CUSTODY OF PERSONS.

ART. 1879. The custody of the following persons may be ordered: 1. A married woman who proposes to institute or has instituted suit for divorce, or who enters a complaint of concubinage against her husband, or who institutes an action for annulment of marriage.

2. A married woman against whom her husband has instituted suit for divorce, or a complaint of adultery, or an action for the annulment of marriage.

3. A single woman who, having reached the age of twenty years, proposes to contract marriage against the advice of her parents or grandparents."

4. Children under parental authority, pupils or incapacitated persons who may be ill treated by their parents, curators, or tutors, or who are compelled by them to perform acts condemned by law.

5. Orphans who may have been abandoned by reason of the death, indefinite absence in an unknown country, or the legal or physical disability of the persons in charge of them.

ART. 1880. In order to decree the custody in the case of the first paragraph of the foregoing article, a written petition of the wife or of another person at her request must be presented.

ART. 1881. After the petition has been presented, the judge shall call at the husband's house accompanied by the court clerk, and without the presence of the husband he shall have the woman appear before him and state whether or not she ratifies the petition made for her custody.

Should the woman not be found in the husband's house, the said proceedings and the others referred to in the following articles, shall be had at the house where she may be found, first citing the husband to appear thereat on the day and hour fixed, with the admonition that without further notice the said proceedings shall be had even should he not appear.

This article has been essentially modified by articles 239 and 240 of the Civil Code, which authorize the family council to order the removal. See article 68, subdivision 2, of the Civil Code. When the temporary custody of a married woman is in question, as the orders relating thereto are not final, an appeal for annulment of judgment does not lie.-Decision of June 28, 1865. According to the law of June 20, 1862, sons under twenty-three years of age and daughters under twenty could not contract marriage under any pretext whatsoever, nor in any case without the paternal consent (or of the mother, or the grandparents, the curator, or the judge, in a proper case). The Civil Code prohibits the marriage of a minor who has not obtained permission (article 45, subdivision 1).

Should the husband not be present the judge shall decide what may

be proper.

ART. 1882. If the petitioner ratifies her request, the judge shall endeavor to have the husband and wife agree upon the person to act as custodian.

ART. 1883. Should they not agree, or if the husband should not have attended, the judge shall select as custodian the person whom he believes to be most proper, either from among those designated by one of the parties, if he considers the objection made by the other unfounded, or any other person whom he deems worthy of confidence. ART. 1884. He shall also order that the bed and clothing in daily. use by the wife be immediately delivered to her, the proper inventory being made.

ART. 1885. Should any question arise as to the clothing which should be delivered to her, the judge shall, without further remedy and taking into consideration the circumstances of the persons, decide what shall be considered as of daily use and to be delivered to her.

ART. 1886. If there be any children of the marriage, the judge shall order that those under three years of age remain in the custody of the mother, and that those over this age remain with the father until a decision is rendered in the proper action.

ART. 1887. After the provisions prescribed in the foregoing articles have been complied with, the judge shall vest the custody with the proper formalities.

ART. 1888. There shall be delivered to the custodian, for his own security, an authenticated copy of the order appointing him and of that vesting the custody.

ART. 1889. After the custody has been effected, the judge shall issue an order enjoining the husband from molesting his wife, or the custodian, with the admonition that otherwise he shall be proceeded against as circumstances may determine, and with the admonition to the wife that if she does not prove that she has instituted an action for divorce or for annulment of marriage or for concubinage within one month, the custody shall be dissolved and she shall be returned to the house of her husband.

ART. 1890. The period of one month shall be increased one day for every thirty kilometers of distance between the town in which the custody was effected and the residence of the ecclesiastical judge or judge of first instance who is to take cognizance of the main action.

ART. 1891. If the woman who requests custody should reside in a place other than that in which the court is situete, the judge may commission the municipal judge to effect the custody, without prejudice to the right of the said judge to do it himself should he deem it necess ry. ART. 1892. The period fixed for the custody may be extended if it be proven that owing to a cause not within the control of the woman it has been impossible to institute or file the proper action or complaint.

ART. 1893. If it be not satisfactorily shown that the action or complaint has been instituted or filed within the period fixed, the judge shall dissolve the custody, ordering that the wife be returned to the house of her husband."

The decision ordering the dissolution of the custody is ne definite, because the woman in interest may again request it.-Decision of October 15, 1888.

ART. 1894. As soon as the wife has shown that the claim or complaint has been admitted, the custody shall be ratified unless she requests that it be vested in the person she may designate."

ART. 1895. An appeal lies from such ruling. The appeal shall be admitted for review and a stay of proceedings to the wife, who requested custody, and only for review to her husband.

ART. 1896. Äll allegations that may be presented by the wife, husband, or custodian with reference to a change of custody, or any other issue which may arise from said custody, before or after the same is definitely determined, shall be presented in writing by each of the parties; and after verbal evidence has been taken the judge shall decide whatever he may deem proper, in a ruling which may be appealed from for review and for a stay of proceedings.

Petitions made for temporary maintenance are expected from the foregoing provisions, which shall be heard and determined in accordance with the provisions of Title XVIII, Book II, of this law.

ART. 1897. For the purpose of ordering the custody in the case of the second paragraph of article 1879, it must be first shown that the suit for divorce, the annulment of the marriage, or for adultery, instituted by the husband, has been admitted.

ART. 1898. The admission of the complaint or charge being proven, the judge shall call at the home of the husband and shall endeavor to have him agree with his wife as to the person to be named custodian; and if they can not agree the judge shall appoint the person designated by the husband, should there be no good grounds against such appointment. Otherwise, he shall select the person whom he may consider most proper.

ART. 1899. The rules established in articles 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888, the first part of 1889, 1891, and 1896 shall be applicable to the custodies in the cases mentioned in the second paragraph of article 1879.

ART. 1900. In order that the custody of a single woman may be ordered in the cases mentioned in subdivision 3 of article 1879, it must be requested in writing, signed by the said woman herself or by another person at her request, stating the reasons which exist for fearing that coercion or violence will be employed to prevent her from carrying out her purpose.

ART. 1901. If the judge should consider that the reasons are well founded, he shall call at the home of the applicant, and without the presence of her parents or grandparents shall request her to state whether or not she ratifies her petition.

ART. 1902. Should she not ratify it, the judge shall make an order dismissing all proceedings, which shall be filed.

ART. 1903. Should she ratify her petition, the judge shall require the parents or grandparents to designate a custodian, and shall require the person interested to state whether or not she agrees to the custodian they may have designated.

ART. 1904. Should the person interested not oppose the designation, and even should she oppose it, if the judge should consider that the

The power granted by this article to the woman to designate the person in whose custody she desires to be placed, is not nor can it be absolute, but is limited to the residents of the district over which the judge exercises jurisdiction, in accordance with the jurisprudence based upon the spirit of the laws of the Recopilación.-Decision of June 30, 1866.

person designated has the necessary qualifications, said person shall be made the custodian.

ART. 1905. Should the judge consider that there are grounds for the objections of the interested person, or that the custodian does not possess the necessary qualifications, he shall appoint another, who shall at once be made the custodian. There shall be no remedy whatsoever against this decision.

ART. 1906. In the same ruling the judge shall order that there be delivered to the person placed in custody the bedding and personal clothing, according to inventory. Should any question arise as to the clothing to be delivered, the judge shall decide it without further remedy.

ART. 1907. The custody shall continue until the marriage is celebrated.

ART. 1908. Such custody, however, may cease:

1. When the marriage is not celebrated within six months from the day on which the custody was ordered.

2. When the person interested abandons her purpose.

In either case the judge shall order that she be restored to the house of her parents or grandparents, and shall cause the proper entry thereof to be made in the record.

ART. 1909. In order to decree the custody in the cases mentioned in subdivision 4 of article 1879, it is necessary:

1. That the person interested request it either in writing or verbally, or if unable to do so in person that another do so in his or her name, but in any case the petition must be ratified in the the judge, should the person have the necessary legal capacity.

presence of

2. That the judge be convinced of the truth of the facts, either from the evidence furnished by the person interested or from data he himself has been able to secure.

ART. 1910. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing article, judges may decree the custody without a request from the person interested, if it should appear to them that the making of said request is impossible.

ART. 1911. If the judge should consider that custody is proper, the person he may designate shall be appointed custodian.

ART. 1912. With regard to the delivery of clothing and bedding, the provisions of articles 1884 et seq. shall be observed.

ART. 1913. After the custody has been ordered a curator ad litem shall be appointed for the ward, and when he accepts the charge the record shall be delivered to him in order that he may state and request in the proper action what may be advisable for the protection of said person.

ART. 1914. If the judge should have notice that some orphan under the age of fourteen years, if a male, and under twelve years, if a female, or an incapacitated person, is embraced in the case mentioned in paragraph five of article 1879, he shall proceed to secure said person and his property, placing him in custody and appointing a tutor or curator according to law.

ART. 1915. Without prejudice to the provisions of the second paragraph of article 1896, in the same ruling in which the judge orders the custody of a person, he shall allow him for his temporary maintenance the amount he may deem reasonably necessary according to his property, or that of the person who is to furnish said maintenance, which must be paid nthly in advance.

ART. 1916. To secure the payment of said maintenance the judge shall take such steps as he may consider necessary, and even issue attachments against property therefor.

ART. 1917. In the cases 1 and 2 of article 1879 the maintenance shall be delivered to the woman in custody; in the other cases of the same article it shall be delivered to the custodian.

TITLE V.-SUBSTITUTION FOR THE CONSENT OF PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, OR CURATORS TO CONTRACT MARRIAGE."

ART. 1918. In the cases in which, according to law, it is the duty of the judicial authority to give its consent for the marriage of a minor, the latter must furnish documentary evidence or the testimony of witnesses to the effect that he is comprised in one of the following cases:

1. That he has no father, mother, paternal nor maternal grandfather, nor curator designated by will; or in case there are such persons that they are living in countries where it would take more than a year to communicate with them and receive a reply.

2. That the whereabouts of said parents, grandparents, or curator is unknown.

3. That said persons are legally or physically prevented from giving their consent.

4. That the curator designated by will is a relative within the fourth civil degree of the person with whom it is proposed to contract marriage.

ART. 1919. When the evidence has been furnished the record shall be delivered to the public prosecutor (promotor fiscal) in order that he may state whether he finds it complete, or otherwise to propose the steps which in his judgment should be taken.

ART. 1920. When the record is returned by the public prosecutor, and the evidence is completed in a proper case, the judge shall order what may be proper.

ART. 1921. If the person who proposes to contract marriage should be a natural or illegitimate child, the judge shall render a decision authorizing or refusing permission, as he may deem proper, according to the data and information he may have been able to secure as to whether or not the marriage should be celebrated.

The ruling refusing consent may be appealed from for review and for a stay of proceedings.

ART. 1922. Should the petitioner be a legitimate child the judge shall order a meeting of the relatives, ordering for the purpose that they be cited to appear at a certain day, hour, and place; and that the necessary letters rogatory be issued to cite those living away from the town to appear in person or by means of a special attorney, under the admonition that their failure to appear, without a legitimate excuse or impediment, shall be punished with a fine which the judge shall fix, but which shall not exceed 125 pesetas.

An attorney can not represent more than one person.

ART. 1923. The meeting of relatives mentioned in the foregoing article shall be composed:

1. Of the ascendants of the minor.

2. Of his brothers who are of age.

See the provisions of articles 45 et seq. of the Civil Code.